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Game of Checkers
Checkers Artist Amy Crehore
- Artist Amy Crehore grew up in Pennsylvania and New
Jersey, but currently resides in Eugene,
Oregon.
- Amy acquired her BFA from Virginia Commonwealth
University and has been featured in several
pop magazines since 1991.
- Crehore's desire is to create imagery that
blends elements from the past images seen
within artist history and new contemporary
motifs to which the viewer will be drawn
over and over again; the idea is to bring
forth memories of past emotions, experiences
or circumstances but at the same time,
also will also evoke a smile or laughter
at the right time and the right place.
- Amy Crehore feels that her irresistible and
lush, dreamy moods may draw the viewer
into the essence of the theme and then
create a moment of déjà vu
when motifs from childhood are reminisced.
- Crehore's paintings resemble illustrated artistic pages
from the colorful and imaginary scenes
depicted in children’s book, full
of playful animals and motifs that display
storybook characteristics, yet the imaginative
design and details carry layers of ideas
with double or hidden meanings.
- Amy's Checkers painting displays a definite ‘double
entendre’ in its theme ~ there is
a game of checkers being played and the young
girl is one of the checkers opponents,
but several questions are raised as the
viewer takes in the casual genre scene
with the dressed man wearing a slight smile
and gazing at the checkerboard, but at
the same time, there is a figure peeking
out from behind the curtain ~ who is the
other checkers opponent, who is the figure
behind the curtain and why is the man standing
innocently looking at the game and the
checker player?
- The setting is very simplistic and the
mood convivial and relaxed but there’s
a hidden tension, an element of mystique,
waiting to be resolved.
- Checkers artist Amy Crehore current affinity has left behind
daily scenes as depicted in Checkers and
Amy’s motifs now entail imaginary,
exotic nudes that are nubile and innocent
but still romantic in nature; the females
display a serenity and normalcy in the
figure’s nakedness, which exudes
an erotic mystique through the different
poses shared with monkeys, cats, puppets
and a variety of musical instruments set
landscapes on sandy beaches, blue water
and landforms in the background; the golden
skinned figures are lost in a dream like
world of their own, waiting for the simple
beauty of the female form to speak to the
viewer’s imagination.
Checkers, painting
by Amy Crehore
“…I
will only be able to paint a limited number
of paintings in my lifetime. My technique is
very time consuming because I use a lot of
layers of paint to obtain the color intensity
and fully realized effects that I desire. I
believe in quality over quantity.”
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